Ships
by Admiral StarNight
Summary: A superyacht by the name of Alexander Ritz has longed for the day when he would be able to join the Navy. However he is a civilian yacht, not any ship the navy would willing want in its ranks. So he takes his fate into his own control, and like a certain firefighting/racer airplane, he will show the world that he is more then what he was built for. Rated T for violence/swearing.
1. Prologue

**Alright readers, we have had Cars 1 & 2, Planes 1 &2\. Now its time for Ships!**

* * *

Norfolk, Virginia.

it was summer, and the air was hot and humid at the civilian docking areas.

Which meant quite a few cars, forklifts and other vehicles were out and about enjoying the water.

The superyacht Alexander Ritz, sighed as he puttered along slowly in sight of the coast but far enough out to not be a problem. He was young, only a few years old. When he'd been brought into this world, a billionaire truck had rented him as a party yacht, and as he grew to his full size, the billionaire had of course continue to pay generously while his parties got wilder.

Alexander had stopped growing at around 507 feet long. He had a helicopter pad at his stern in case his employer needed to land one there, a large crew and places to host killer parties.

But for the ship it was boring in the extreme. Listening to the music thump around his hull, hear the hollers and yells of drunk cars and feel them doing things he cared not to think about in the private rooms. He sighed again and twisted to starboard to look longingly at naval base his home was next to. He always admired the navy, and there wasn't a day that passed that he wished he'd been born a naval ship instead of a yacht.

he closed his eyes, he could do that, there was no ships around, and began to day dream to drown out the horrible rap music his employer was playing.

* * *

 _The large aircraft carrier in the middle of the fleet was launching its latest aircraft patrol, the destroyers surrounding it, protecting their carrier carefully while below them a submarine quietly escorted them all, its sensors reaching out into the deep ocean._

 _Alexander pictured himself with gray paint and a large gun on his bow while a navy helicopter sat napping secured on his landing pad. He felt his crew of forklifts moving about, doing their duties. He 'heard' an order come through and the fleet began to turn sharply, he turned with them, enjoying the sensation of being in a well drilled fleet..._

* * *

"Hey-o Alex!"

The voice of his employer shocked him out of his daydream and realized he'd been actually doing the sharp maneuver he'd been imagining and corrected himself.

"Sorry Sir, won't happen again."

"Hey I know its a bit boring for you, wanna drink?" The employer asked.

"No thank you, I'm the one driving." Alexander replied and the car gave a drunk laugh and went back to schmoozing the lady car that he'd been talking to.

The superyacht glanced longing back at the naval base before he continued his slow, boring route.

* * *

Something like 7 hours later they pulled back into port and the cars drunkenly got off the ship to be driven back to their houses and hotel rooms by special tow trucks. It was dark and Alexander glanced around before darting back out and cruised quickly up till he reached a small ship repair yard. It had a nice sign on its large building saying 'Tide's Timely Repairs and Refits, "If you need it, we can do it."'

He pulled into the yard, noticing that it was empty of other ships and then carefully maneuvered into the open waterhouse. He shut the door behind him and settled down, waiting anxiously as he studied the various equipment for repairs around him.

Finally the door on land opened and a dark blue painted forklift, humming a popular tune, rolled in and shut the door. "Hey Alexander, you wanna here some good news? Its kinda expensive though, so..."

"Tell me Tide." He commanded eagerly.

"Well I've been trawling through records and sights and such and it just so happens..." Tide said, tapping the wrench he had in hand. "That I can do it. Its technically illegal, and you'll get into a lot of trouble doing it if you get caught."

"But can you modify me so I can get into the Navy?"

The forklift sighed. Ever since this yacht was little he'd badgered the forklift which he came to for repairs if he could transform him from a yacht to a ship that at least resembled a navy destroyer. And after Tide was certain he was serious, he'd actually looked into the task. Turns out the Navy didn't accept civilians in the same line of duty as warships, obviously. The most a civilian could hope for is to be a sort of right hand man for older Admiral ships and running sensative documents within US waters. That wasn't what Alexander Ritz wanted.

The yacht wanted to be in the navy, help defend his nation like the ships at Norfolk did. Ever since Dusty Crophopper had won the Wings Around the Globe race, his passion had only increased.

The idea of civilian going undercover as a soldier was not a new one, it media it was actually a popular way to tell a story, but in real life it was much harder to do then one would think. After all a civilian passenger plane would never fit in among transports and warcraft with guns. It had only been done once before successfully, by a wooden sailing ship by the name of _Wooden Maiden._ The only reason he'd been successful is because the USA's navy at the time had been so ragtag, a new edition no one remembered wasn't all that noticeable, and the ship had done such a good job protecting shipping and killing pirates that when he had been found out they'd just kept him on anyways.

"Look Alex, its going take me months to get everything right, from stripping all the civilian fancy shit out to redoing your bulkheads and rearranging your bridge. The navy is going to change your power generator to a nuclear reactor anyways so I don't have to worry about that, but your armament is going to be a problem."

"How so?"

"Well..." Tide began to pace back and forth in front of the ship. "First off the only place you have room is the front of your deck, your nose in other words. And that's going to require ammo storage space and still have space around it for all the delicate electronics. You won't be able to carry missiles and that might tip someone off that you're not what you say you are."

"You know I'm already going to claim hybrid status." Alexander argued. "Anyways, you know the armed forces prefers to keep a handle on anything that claims it a civilian/military hybrid, so they should jump at the chance of having me in the Navy."

"I know, but while I appreciate the amount of money you're giving me, it still could get us in a hell of a lot of trouble." Tide complained as he rolled out a tool set and looked it over.

Alexander took a deep breath. He really was asking a lot of Tide. "I'll do it as long as you're still willing to."

Tide looked up and grinned. "Good, then I guess I better start working! I can even have you mounted with the latest and greatest guns, just don't ask how I got them." He pushed a button and the dock began to drain of water. The forklift rolled up to his side and patted his hull, looking small next to the large yacht. "Just remember to be careful. I got your resignation letter in the mail to your employer as soon as you pulled into dock."

* * *

 **About 10 months later**

"Hey Alexander..." A voice that sounded familiar yet far off and somewhat odd said.

Alexander blinked awake, feeling a bit nauseous, dizzy and over all a bit high in water. He finally focused his eyes forward and down and saw Tide waving at him from his bow.

And in front of a large 5 inch/54 caliber gun right behind him.

He tried to move his mouth to say something but all that came out was a groan.

"Hey now Alex, take it easy. The drugs I gave you are wearing off, but everything is in place now. Your bridge is fixed, bulkheads rearranged, gun and ammo space all carved out and ready to go. The Navy is going to have to supply you with the proper engines, power sources, electronics and such, but other then that, you're ready to go."

"Th...h...ank You." Alex managed to slur, still wondering how Tide had gotten his hands on a modern day naval armament. Well it would help his cause of getting in at least. It felt right now and he began to slowly turn the gun around and generally 'feeling' himself and the new layout of his ship.

And soon he would be where he belonged, he thought, rather then escorting around drunk rich cars.

* * *

 **Hello everyone author here, I have another Carsverse story out there called A Single Difference.**

 **One of the things that caught my attention in the movie Planes and its sequel is that Dusty, a cropduster, was transformed into a racer and then a firefighter. So far, only types of vehicles that can have just about any job is the forklift and cars, seen doing things like crewing the _Flysenhower,_ repair and maintenance, a helper of an old warplane.  
**

 **When Franz says 'you are an inspiration to all of those who want to do more then what we were built for,' it really struck me because most vehicles are built for a purpose, racecars are meant to race, trucks to haul stuff around, passenger jets to ferry around passengers. I imagine in the Carserse that the feeling of 'not being what I want to be' is common, but not really addressed, even scorned upon by many, after all its kind of hard to let F-18 or battleships wander around doing whatever they want. The bigger the vehicle the harder it would be to modify them from their original purpose to fit what they want to do.**

 **A car wants to race? Easy to fix, a large, luxury civilian ship wanting to join the navy? Not so much. I am going to explore Alexander Ritz's journey to try and be something he was not made to be. And hopefully everyone who read this will enjoy this story and the exploration of not just Alex's life, but the Carsverse military in general.**


	2. The New Kid on the Block

**Thanks for reading everyone! This is an exploration of the Carsverse military and more specifically ships. Enjoy.**

* * *

Alexander looked around nervously as he pulled into the inlet in the Chesapeake that housed the Naval Academy, where you g naval ships were turned into warships. He stood out among the older gray-painted ships with his glossy white with red accents civilian paint job. He sunk a little lower into the water as he scanned around, looking for where he was supposed to report.

He spotted the sign and skittered over to it, where a few other destroyers with paint jobs and decals that showed they were not navy issued paint jobs. The others were pure warships, all new and nervous. He was the only 'hybrid' here. He swallowed and pulled up beside them. He was shorter then them, most had basic towers for the sensors soon to come, he didn't.

"...and I've been practicing my maneuvers and I'm going to ace them when we begin learning them." A destroyer with a red sexy car decal on his side boasted at the head of the dock.

"Heh, you think you're really something, don't you Buckshot?" A female Arleigh Burke with a basic white paint job with brown eyes replied before turning to see Alex. "Hello."

"Hello." Alexander replied and the destroyer named Buckshot snorted as he looked him over.

"What trench did you get dredged out of?" Buckshot said disdainfully and Alexander bristled.

"Oh shut it Buckshot." The female shot back. "Whats your name?"

"Alexander Ritz, what is yours?"

"I'm Aurora, hot-shot over there is Buckshot, the blue decaled one is Winston, thats my sister Tidea and the fellow Arleigh Burke here is Sam McGee." The destroyer named Aurora said as she motioned to each of them.

"Hey, what exactly are you? You aren't any destroyer class I've seen." Sam pointed out, his green eyes studying Alexander curiously.

"I'm a hybrid." He answered pulling in close to the dock.

"okay." Sam said. "Strange paint job though."

Alexander was about to reply when a large white ship with red crosses on it. "Alright you guys, fall in!"

The gaggle of destroyers fell in in a line in front of the large ship.

"I am USNS _Comfort_ , a hospital ship. I am in charge of your incorporation into the US Navy. In a few hours you will be pulled into dock and stripped of your paint and decals." The ship paused as Buckshot groaned. "If you want for a small fee we can scan and save the decal design for later, but its not within the standards of the Navy to have highly visible decals that could aide in targeting at short ranges. You'll be getting a nice gray paint job that is highly resistant to all sorts of rust and chemical reactions. During this time we will go in and install the navy electronics and sensors, check to make sure none of you are smuggling in items unuseable in The Navy. You will get checked for drugs as well. And if you manage to live through that..." The hospital ship grinned. "Just maybe we will train you. Any questions?"

Alexander made a motion and _Comfort_ nods to him to ask his question.

"What about our names Sir? I've noticed that every class has a theme, and none of us have names that fit the patterns."

"Good question." _Comfort_ said. "In the US Navy we have a rule for names. As nice as all your names are, they don't represent the USA very well unless you all end up being war heroes. So we assign you official nicknames which you will be called by until you are dismissed from service. My real name is Dennis Freightman, but since I am in service of the Navy, I am called _Comfort._ So if you make it through training without being thrown out, you'll be assigned an official name until you're retired. Given that you're all destroyers, you'll most likely receive names of famous ships and officers that have served your country. Sadly, most of them are male sounding so sorry about that you two," He nodded to the sisters. "But I'm sure you'll get use to it. The recruiter did explain that to you, didn't he?"

"Oh yes Sir, he did." Tidea answered.

"Good. So pass training, you'll get your ship name. Got it?"

"Yes sir!" everyone said at once and the hospital ship nodded.

"Good, then follow me and watch where you wander, its time to get started."

* * *

After what seemed like forever, (even though it was only a month or so) Alexander cruised of the dry dock and studied himself in the mirror which had been temporarily mounted outside for that purpose. Having reflective items near water was always a bad idea so the mirror was only put up when new ships came out of refit.

And he liked what he saw, just like in his daydreams. Dull gray paint with a white stencil TD4 to signify, Trainee Destroyer-4. he adjusted himself, and it felt strange. His 'class' of destroyers was the first to be fitted with nuclear reactors as a power supply. The new power plants were easier for the ships themselves to control, provided a near endless cruising range, and generally were a step up from the gas powered engines that other destroyers used. He also admired the new sensor tower he'd been fitted with. His civilian side still showed a bit, but not much anymore. Not enough to be a problem. He was thankful that the engineers fixing him up hadn't seemed bothered by the fact that he wasn't a pure warship.

He moved out of the way and a tug came up to pull him carefully through the crowded the docking area and out to where he could join the other 5 of his classmates.

"I still think these reactors feel weird. Like, I don't feel the need to eat anything at all now... except maybe some oil. even then..." Sam was saying as Alexander pulled up. "Oh hey Alex, _Comfort_ says our teacher should be here soon. Says we'll have a whole slew of different people to teach us stuff, but the ship we're going to meet is going to be our main one to evaluate us."

"Okay, so who is he?"

"Dunno." Aurora cut in, then looked up and behind him towards the anchorage.

Alexander turned around in the water and couldn't help but gawking as a very large ship began to pull towards them once free. "Is that..."

" _North Dakota,_ a South Dakota-class battleship, 38,000 ton displacement and enough firepower to blow the state of Roade Island off the map and still have enough left over to kick your ass." McGee said somewhat reverently. "He fought in WWII along side his brother _South Dakota,_ and an amazing war record."

Alexander was about to ask a question, but didn't have time to. _North Dakota_ was already in range and he snapped off a salute with his forward gun as he'd been taught and the rest of the group followed suit as the large ship came to rest in front of them. The battleship stared down at them for a long moment before returning the salute.

"Your salutes need a bit of work, but at least you recognize a superior officer when you see one." _North Dakota_ said, his voice sounding deep and old. "I am Vice Admiral _North Dakota_ , your main teacher and evaluator. I will be overseeing your progress through training, and while other ships will be involved in teaching you the ropes, I am the final arbiter of your fate in the Navy." He began to cruise past them. "Follow me please."

The destroyers fell in obediently behind him as they cruised for a few minutes before _North Dakota_ motioned to a bunch of buoys with his main guns. each buoy was in sets of two, each set painted a different bright color except for a singleton one floating out on its own.

"This here is the basic obstacle course that we start with to help teach and refine your maneuvers. You start from here, go through the red set, do a soft turn to starboard to go through the green, you continue through the second set of green and turn to port through the yellow set, increase to maximum speed possible, not recommended and swing around the last single buoy and come back through the red set to finish. this course will be modified depending on what we need. Okay who wants to go first?"

When no one volunteered _North Dakota_ snorted. "Okay, you, Buckshot, get going."

Buckshot swallowed nervously and then shot forward through the red set of buoys. He arched his way through a soft turn, but miscalculated the turn and ended up out side the green pair. He seemed mad at his mistake and he turned sharp to port and shot through the yellow, increased to maximum speed and tried to swing around the last lone buoy.

The idea behind this maneuver was to swing your side sharply away from the enemy while still being able to train the powerful gun in the front onto a target without losing it. Giving the enemy less of a target while maximizing chances of your own weapons hitting. It wasn't easy to pull off (not to mention crews never liking it) as Buckshot ending up knocking into the buoy causing the bell in it to ring loudly. Buckshot swore as he semi-completed the swing and came back through the red buoys, looking like he wanted to sink into the water.

"Okay Buckshot. everyone makes some mistakes, you were over correcting during your soft turn, and you definitely need o get a handle on your speed, you weren't maxing out like I told you to, no doubt because you're not use to the new reactor you have in you. Alright who is next?"

"I'll do it Sir." Alexander said and Buckshot snorted in amusement.

"Okay then Alexander, you may start when ready." The battleship said.

Alexander took a deep breath and then shot forward. Being a civilian yacht he never had a chance to go fast really, rich cars don't like a bumpy ride, but as he went through the first set, he began the gentle arc to land directly through the second pair, he turned sharp to port and just barely brushed one of the yellow buoys, causing the bell to chime lightly.

He settled down and pushed his engine to the max, redlining as far as he dared to push it before beginning his swing. He felt his stern start to swing wide and for a moment he thought he was out of control, he'd never done this before and it felt strange, wrong, ships weren't supposed to move like that. But he ruthlessly pushed that feeling aside and finished the arc, and slowed himself down as he came through the red buoys again.

Buckshot's mouth was hanging open in surprise and then his face darkened in anger at being outdone.

"That was an okay run, though I can see that while your swing maneuver was spot on, you obviously began to panic. We'll train out that in time, but you need to make sure you're clearing the buoys right. Just like Buckshot, you miscalculated. If that was a ship you brushed by, you could of torn a rent in his or her hull or in your own." _North Dakota_ coached. "Aurora, I want you to go next, then Sam, then Tidea. Then we can beginning some real exercises to whip you guys into shape."

* * *

Alexander sighed happily as he settled down in the dock assigned to him next to his classmates, feeling like his screws were sore and engine broken from the merciless drilling of _North Dakota_.

But it felt right. He was on his way to becoming a Navy ship at last. And as he drifted off to sleep, he couldn't wait for tomorrow.

* * *

 **Once again thanks for reading. Please review with thoughts, or even just to say you liked it. I love feedback.**

 **Shoutout to Titanic X, who's OC, Sam McGee the Arleigh Burke destroyer, is now in my story.**


	3. A Shot at Your Dreams

**Thanks for reading everyone! This is an exploration of the Carsverse military and more specifically ships. Enjoy.**

* * *

Alexander could quite stifle a groan as he saw the look on North Dakota's face as he and his classmates came back to rest in front of him.

He and his classmates had been doing a station-keeping exercise, pretending to protect Sam while everyone kept proper distances from him so that their defenses and sensors would be in maximum effect.

"Okay, Tidea," he turned to the destroyer. "You need to learn to talk to your friends while not looking at them, you have a bad habit of going where you look. Instead of actually talking, use your communication equipment, its secure and allows you to have private conversations with another ship or ships without having to open your mouth. Buckshot, you did good with station-keeping, as did you Alexander." The battleship complimented the both of them, "but its not great, go out and do it again, this time Buckshot you're the one to be protected."

Buckshot seemed relived that he hadn't been torn in two, he was still arrogant as hell, but even he seemed to realize his bluster was to the battleship like thrown eggs are to a brick wall. Buckshot sailed out and the others settled into place around him and began the exercise once again.

As they were coming back, Alexander saw on his radar before he actually saw that something had joined North Dakota. As they drew nearer, the new contact became a smaller ship, and that smaller ship turned out to be a destroyer with a white 51 painted near his bow.

He heard Aurora and Tidea make noises of excitement and Alexander glanced over at the sisters. Once they passed the invisible line which marked the completion of their run the two sisters rushed forward.

The 51 destroyer smiled hugely and moved out to meet them as the two pressed themselves carefully against them in the ship version of a hug.

"Father! I though you were deployed in the Pacific!" Aurora said.

"I was recalled here, brass wants me to do some teaching." The destroyer said.

Alexander watched the scene, trying to recall who DDG-51 was. He looked like an Arleigh-Burke but which one?

"Okay you two, fall back in, the rest of you, front and center!" The destroyer barked, his voice suddenly gaining a note of command. He waited till everyone was in place. "I am the USS _Arleigh Burke,_ the first of the class. I am here to help _North Dakota_ train you poor helpless souls." He moved forward. "Now I saw you all were having trouble in station-keeping. I want all of you to fall in around me and I will whip you into shape by the end of the week."

The trainees fell into their assigned places and began the drill again, while _Arleigh_ gave them tips and every once in a while yelled at them.

* * *

"Wow... Your father is _Arleigh-Burke_?" Sam McGee said as they all pulled into the dock and each settled down next to each other. It was crisp out, a bit cold but with all the work the trainees did today made it feel nice. _Arleigh_ had already taken off to go attend to some paperwork or something like that, leaving the trainees to themselves in their docks.

"Yeah. He's a good man. He always had fun teaching us stuff and reading to us. Funny we've been on the end of command voice before but never as his pupils. Always knew he was pretty tough, but damn it. He was kinda rough. " Tidea said with a yawn. "But it's nice to see him anyways."

"Who is your mom? If I may inquire?" Alexander questioned and Aurora, who had taken to docking next to him, glanced over at him.

" _Zumwalt._.. Which is why I'm technically not a pure Arleigh-Burke. My sister and I took after our father though. Not that it matters I'm all warship." She said with a tired grin and a yawn.

Just as everyone was setting down to sleep, _North Dakota_ cruised up and everyone perked up. "We're going to do weapons training for the rest of the week. You'll all be briefed on proper weapon procedures tomorrow and quizzed about it sometime later. You will be loaded with training shots and even get your first taste of having crews on board." _North Dakota_ said. "And at the end of this week, you'll get to watch some of the other battleships and myself do live fire exercises down in Mayport. Your first taste of what the real ammo does. _Arleigh-Burke_ will be teaching you most of your firing exercises and will accompany us down to Mayport. Get some rest. You did well."

The destroyers wasted no time settling down, chatting quietly.

Alexander yawned looked out over the bay and the slowly moving ship traffic, glad to be here more then anything in the world.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, please leave a review with thoughts or just to say you like it.  
**


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